Huskies earn NCAA berth and look to get back to work

STORRS -- Inside its Gampel Pavilion locker room on Sunday night, the University of Connecticut men's basketball team didn't have to wait long to find out about its immediate future.

UConn was the third team mentioned as CBS Sports released the official NCAA Tournament bracket's Atlanta Regional.

The Huskies (20-13) earned the ninth seed of that regional and their first opponent would be Iowa State (22-10). And, if UConn wins that one, a major showdown with Kentucky -- the tournament's No. 1 seed -- could be looming in the third round.

There were no made-for-television explosions of applause after the announcement. There was no back-slapping and high fiving, either.

In fact, it was rather low-key and straight forward.

It was, simply put, time to get back to work.

"It was pretty serious," said Andre Drummond, UConn's 6-foot-10 freshman center. "We just looked around at each other and said, 'OK, now we know what we've got to do.'"

For the Huskies to do what they did last year -- win six games and claim the school's third NCAA championship -- will be a hard act to follow.

At least now, the Huskies know in which direction they're headed.

"One of our main goals was to make the NCAA tournament, obviously," said UConn head coach Jim Calhoun, who has coached the Huskies to a 3-1 mark since returning from back surgery. "We don't think we're defending anything. If you want to look at the national championship trophy, it's up in my office. We just wanted another opportunity, but this is an entirely different spot. There are probably 356 Division 1 teams in the country and there are 280 probably wishing they were where we are."

The No. 9 seed is the lowest seeding for the Huskies in about 20 years, but Calhoun didn't mind.

"I don't mind being the underdog," he said.

Ranked No. 4 in the preseason, the Huskies got off to a 14-1 start this season and a repeat didn't seem all that impossible. That was before the program ran face-first into a wall and a host of problems.

Once the BIG EAST portion of the UConn schedule kicked in, Calhoun had to sit out for a three-game NCAA suspension. The Huskies went 1-2, dropping the two games during a weekend swing through New Jersey against Seton Hall and Rutgers.

Then, the night before playing on the road at Notre Dame, freshman Ryan Boatright was benched for the second time (he missed the first six games of the season) as the NCAA and the school looked into reports of possible transgressions in his recruitment.

Then, the school announced, that Calhoun would be sidelined indefinitely with a bad back; which he would later have surgery on before returning for the final regular season game against Pittsburgh.

Suddenly the Huskies were in a 3-9 free fall, which led to many pundits wondering if the Huskies even deserved a spot in the NCAA tournament and a shot at defending their title.

Calhoun returned to lead UConn to a 74-65 win over Pittsburgh and the Huskies then won two of three in the BIG EAST tournament, even taking top-seeded Syracuse down to the wire.

"These kids should be excited," said Calhoun. "They worked hard to get here and they earned it. Down the stretch, the kids came back. We had to win some games and we did. We showed we deserved to get in."

Plus, UConn -- just like everybody else -- is 0-0. First one to win six games is the national champ.

"It's an open fresh world to some degree and great things can happen," Calhoun said. "A team can find itself in six games and who does and who doesn't, you can't really tell."

The Huskies certainly have the talent to play with anybody in the country.

Sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb, an All-BIG EAST first team choice, burst onto the national scene during last year's tournament, supplying star Kemba Walker with a wing man who lifted the Huskies to the national title.

Junior Alex Oriakhi and sophomore Roscoe Smith both had huge tournaments a year ago and were crucial to the title run.

This year, Drummond and Boatright -- both of who are averaging in double figures -- could certainly fill a role like that on any given six-game stretch.

"We're trying to go out there and be break-out players," Boatright said. "We just want to go out there and play basketball and do whatever we have to do to help our team win."

Plus, there are role players like Tyler Olander, Niels Giffey and DeAndre Daniels who could come up with a key basket at any given time.

More than anything, though, Calhoun now wants his Huskies to enjoy what's left of the season.

"It doesn't get old. It's exciting," he said, before briefly reliving his first NCAA tournament appearance with Northeastern in 1980. "It's the best time of the year and I treat it like that."

Many big games potentially lay ahead for the Huskies.

On Selection Sunday night, though, only one really mattered.

UConn vs. Iowa State.

"Everybody in our camp right now is just focusing on beating Iowa State and that's a team that can shoot the three-point shot which is something we've had problems defending," said Calhoun. "So we're just going to focus on going down there, saying hello to (Iowa State head coach) Fred (Hoiberg) and then get them off the 3-point line."

And, as the Huskies proved last year, anything can happen in six games.